That the sickle swords of the Congo-Ubangui region were used to reach around shields is indeed something that has been said, though there are no sources that comment on it directly. As Ian says, it is an inference made from Burton's commentary on shotels. At any rate, it is not implausible, given that basically every people where these swords were used also used large shields that could cover a man. Some are more sickle-like while others (Ngombe and Ngbandi examples, for instance) are functionally more like warpicks.
Burton is dismissive of the shotel and its wielders, but that is typical of 19th century Europeans (for example with kaskaras in Sudan or tulwars in India). They are literally stating that you cannot fence with them, and its true, in the sense that you can't fence military saber style with these swords, with quick moulinettes and parry-riposte actions. This bias makes such comments sort of meaningless for historical weapon study. All these swords are conceived for a totally different swordsmanship system, and that's how they should be understood.
Egyptian influence is also something that has been thrown around in the literature. I believe it is most unlikely, given the spatial and temporal links between both events. Iron khopesh existed but were pretty rare, and they were not in use neither in Meroitic Sudan nor in the environs of Lake Chad, which are the regions through which any supposed Egyptian influence had to reach Central Africa. This "theory" has no historical basis and should be discarded out of hand. These swords were an indigenous development within a comprehensive regional military system.
As for their use, they were obviously melee only implements. They are not only not suited for throwing, but coexisted in the same societies with actual throwing knives intended for such a use. 19th century sources clearly state that both (sickle swords and throwing knives) were distinct implements.
Schweinfurth, one of the main 19th century sources on the Azande, wrote:
The principal weapons of the Niam-niam are their lances and their trumbashes. . . . The trumbash of the Niam-niam consists ordinarily of several limbs of iron, with pointed prongs and sharp edges. Iron missiles very similar in their shape are found among the tribes of the Tsad basin. . . The trumbashes are always attached to the inside of the shields, which are woven from the Spanish reed, and are of a long oval form, covering two-thirds of the body ; they are ornamented with black and white crosses or other devices ; and are so light that they do not in the least impede the combatants in their wild leaps. An expert Niam-niam, by jumping up for a moment, can protect his feet from the flying missiles of his adversary. Bows and arrows, which, as handled by the Bongo, give them a certain advantage, are not in common use among the Niam-niam, who possess a peculiar weapon of attack in their singular knives, that have blades like sickles
Colonel Chaillé Long, describing an engagement in which Azande auxiliaries fought under him:
I confess that I never saw a more perfect ideal of the warrior, not alone in muscular display, but in the bounding élan with which he flew rather than ran - the right hand grasping the huge knife, while with bouclier pressed closely to his side, he met the enemy. Covering his body with it with wonderful quickness from the deadly arrows, that his adversary in vain expended upon the broad shield, he threw himself upon him and cut and stabbed the defenceless 'Yanbari' to death
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